100 Fun Facts About Stephen Colbert

Which word that Colbert introduced on The Colbert Report's first episode became Merriam-Webster's 2006 word of the year?

Truthiness was a same-day substitution: the script's word was 'truth' until Colbert stopped a rehearsal on the day of the first taping and told his writers it wasn't stupid enough.

Colbert won NASA's 2009 poll to name a space-station module; what did NASA name after him instead?

A treadmill, the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill or COLBERT, flew to the station in 2009, while the module itself was named Tranquility.

Which Fox News host's program did Comedy Central's one-line pitch for The Colbert Report name as its model?

Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor was the template: the pitch was 'our version of the O'Reilly Factor with Stephen Colbert', and the network committed to an eight-week tryout without a pilot.

Which actor was the first guest when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert premiered in September 2015?

George Clooney shared the opening night with Jeb Bush, and Colbert thanked David Letterman and joined Mavis Staples and other musicians for 'Everyday People'.

The Colbert Report's 2014 finale had Colbert fly off with Santa, a unicorn Abraham Lincoln and which game-show host?

Alex Trebek boarded the sleigh after Colbert accidentally killed Death and became immortal, closing nine years and 1,447 episodes on December 18, 2014.

Which veteran White House reporter chased Colbert through the halls in his 2006 Correspondents' Dinner video?

Helen Thomas, a vocal critic of the Bush administration, pursued Colbert after he fled the briefing room in a mock audition tape to replace departing press secretary Scott McClellan.

Colbert grew up in South Carolina, but in which city was he born in 1964?

Washington, D.C. was his birthplace; his father, an immunologist, later became medical school dean at the Medical University of South Carolina, and the family settled near Charleston.

Colbert, a lifelong Tolkien devotee, has a cameo as a Laketown spy in which Middle-earth film?

The Desolation of Smaug (2013) put Colbert, his wife and two sons on screen as Laketown extras; he later moderated Lord of the Rings cast reunions and in 2026 was announced as co-writer of a new film in the franchise.

Which musician was the final guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's May 2026 finale?

Paul McCartney closed the 79-minute finale on May 21, 2026 by singing the Beatles' 'Hello, Goodbye' with Colbert, Elvis Costello and the house band, ending a run that began in September 2015.

At Second City Chicago, Colbert's first professional job was understudy to which future star of The Office?

Steve Carell and Colbert went on to The Dana Carvey Show together and later feuded on The Daily Show in the 'Even Stevphen' segment, where every debate dissolved into shouting.

Colbert's 'March to Keep Fear Alive' merged with whose 'Rally to Restore Sanity' on the National Mall in October 2010?

Jon Stewart billed his rally as a call to 'take it down a notch' on behalf of the 70 to 80 percent of the country he said were drowned out by a loud few; the joint event drew an estimated 215,000 people.

In 2006 Colbert told viewers to edit which animal's Wikipedia article to claim its African population had tripled?

Elephants were the test case for 'wikiality', Colbert's word for a reality that becomes true once enough users agree, and the stunt set off a wave of edits to elephant and Africa articles.

Which animals did Colbert's pundit character fear above all, calling them 'godless killing machines'?

Bears were his standing terror on the 'ThreatDown' segment that ranked the five greatest threats to America; the character felt deeply threatened by anyone with more power than he had.

Which ice-cream maker launched 'Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream' in 2007, with Colbert's proceeds going to charity?

Ben & Jerry's unveiled the flavor in February 2007, and at its on-air launch Colbert had guests taste it for him because he had given up sweets for Lent.

Which game did the teenage Colbert later describe as his early experience in acting and improvisation?

Dungeons & Dragons hooked him in seventh grade, and by his own account he put more effort into the game than he ever did into his schoolwork.

Which snack brand lent its name to Colbert's 'Hail to the Cheese' coverage of his own 2008 White House run?

Doritos sponsored 'The Hail to the Cheese Stephen Colbert NachoCheese Doritos 2008 Presidential Campaign Coverage', as Colbert ran only in South Carolina as a 'favorite son'.

Colbert's 2012 Peabody Award praised his Super PAC segments for teaching viewers about which Supreme Court decision?

Citizens United v. FEC (2010) is the ruling that made super PACs possible, and Colbert's own super PAC exposed the loopholes, or 'loop-chasms', by raising over $1 million on air.

Who played Jerri Blank, the 46-year-old ex-con back in high school on Colbert's co-creation Strangers with Candy?

Amy Sedaris, who also co-created the series, modelled Jerri on Florrie Fisher, a motivational speaker whose public-service film The Trip Back a fellow creator found on tape in an East Village video store.

On Strangers with Candy, Colbert's teacher Chuck Noblet dispensed inaccurate information in which subject?

History was Noblet's subject, and his other running joke was a 'secret' affair with art teacher Geoffrey Jellineck that everyone around them could plainly see.

Colbert's 1999 Comedy Central sitcom Strangers with Candy was conceived as a parody of which TV genre?

After-school specials supplied the form, with every episode a morality play in which Jerri Blank makes the wrong choice; it was Comedy Central's first live-action narrative series.

Colbert's red bracelets, sold after he broke his wrist in 2007, parodied which athlete's charity wristband?

Lance Armstrong's yellow 'Livestrong' band was the model for Colbert's 'Wriststrong'; he broke his left wrist doing his pre-show warm-up, and every dollar went to the Yellow Ribbon Fund.

What kind of book did Colbert and his wife Evelyn publish together in September 2024?

A cookbook, Does This Taste Funny?: Recipes Our Family Loves, centres on the Lowcountry cooking of coastal South Carolina, where Colbert grew up and his wife's family is from.

Which bandleader opened The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2015 with his band Stay Human and left in 2022?

Jon Batiste's Stay Human replaced the CBS Orchestra, which promptly reverted to its old Letterman-era name; Colbert announced the departure on August 11, 2022.

When Colbert joined The Daily Show in 1997 as a correspondent known on air as 'the new guy', who was its host?

Craig Kilborn left at the end of 1998, and his successor gave the show a sharper political focus; Colbert was one of four field correspondents filing mock network-news reports from remote locations.

Colbert's Daily Show religion segment 'This Week in God' was presented with the help of which prop?

The God Machine passed to Rob Corddry when Colbert left for his own show in 2005; Colbert joked that God had an exclusive licensing deal with The Daily Show.

Colbert voiced Ace in which Robert Smigel cartoon that moved from The Dana Carvey Show to Saturday Night Live?

The Ambiguously Gay Duo paired Colbert's Ace with his Second City castmate as Gary, and Colbert kept voicing the hero on SNL until 2011.

Colbert left Second City for which 1995 Comedy Central sketch show, nominated for five CableACE Awards in 12 episodes?

Exit 57 reunited Colbert with two friends from the Second City touring company, the same trio who went on to make Strangers with Candy.

Before transferring to Northwestern's theatre program in 1984, Colbert spent two years at which Virginia institution?

Hampden–Sydney College had no real theatre scene, yet Colbert's interest in acting grew there; a friend had enrolled, and he had been unsure about attending college at all.

Which future Friends star shared Colbert's Northwestern improv group, the No Fun Mud Piranhas?

David Schwimmer and Colbert were both at Northwestern's School of Communication, which Colbert left in 1986 still intending to be a dramatic actor.

Colbert's father and two of his brothers died in 1974 when Flight 212 of which airline crashed near Charlotte?

Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 was attempting to land in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 11, 1974; Colbert was ten, and Paul and Peter were the brothers closest to him in age.

Childhood ear surgery left Colbert deaf in his right ear and ended his hopes of a career in which field?

Marine biology needed scuba diving, which the inner-ear damage ruled out; the operation had been meant to repair a badly perforated eardrum.

Colbert's first Grammy, in January 2010 for Best Comedy Album, came for a 2008 special built around which holiday?

Christmas was the theme of A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!, which aired in November 2008; a second Grammy followed in 2014 for the audiobook of America Again.

Which US Olympic team did Colbert Nation sponsor for Vancouver 2010 after its backer, Dutch bank DSB, collapsed?

Speedskating got $300,000 from Colbert Report fundraising, and Colbert was named the team's assistant sports psychologist after losing a 500 m race to Shani Davis for the final roster spot.

Why was Colbert ruled ineligible after winning Hungary's 2006 online poll to name a new Danube bridge?

He was still alive, and Hungary's ambassador told him on air that a bridge's namesake must be dead and fluent in Hungarian; his 17 million votes topped Hungary's population by about 7 million.

What reason did CBS give in July 2025 for ending The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in May 2026?

A purely financial decision, CBS said, taken 'against a challenging backdrop in late night' and unrelated to the show's performance or content; the timing beside Paramount's Skydance merger drew controversy.

Which rival host's 2025 Emmy billboard read 'I'm voting for Stephen' after CBS canceled Colbert's Late Show?

Jimmy Kimmel turned his own show's Emmy ad in West Hollywood into an endorsement of the rival he was nominated against, and Colbert's Late Show went on to win the award.

In 2018–19, which NBC rival did Colbert beat among adults 18–49 for the first time in his CBS tenure?

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon lost the demo crown to Colbert in only the second such win of the Late Show franchise's run, the first since 1994–95.

Too late for South Carolina's 2012 primary ballot, Colbert told viewers to back which withdrawn candidate as his proxy?

Herman Cain's name remained on the ballot after he suspended his campaign, so a Cain vote became a Colbert vote; a Public Policy Polling survey had put Colbert at 5% without his even being listed.

What did South Carolina Democrats do with Colbert's 2007 presidential filing?

Kept him off the ballot is what the party's executive council voted, 13–3, judging that he wasn't a serious candidate; he had skipped the Republican primary because its fee was $35,000.

Which creature did East Carolina University's Jason Bond name Aptostichus stephencolberti after Colbert in 2008?

A trapdoor spider from the California coast got the name after Colbert begged on air for a species of his own; Bond had just named another spider after Neil Young.

Which airline founder announced on The Colbert Report in 2007 that one of his planes would be named 'Air Colbert'?

Richard Branson promised a Virgin America aircraft would carry the name, one of a run of things named for Colbert that included a hockey mascot and a bald eagle chick at San Francisco Zoo.

Colbert's wife, Evelyn McGee, appeared in an episode of Strangers with Candy as which relative of his character?

His mother was the role; the couple married in 1993, and she later became a founder and board president of the Montclair Film Festival, near their New Jersey home.

What was the registered name of Colbert's 2011 super PAC?

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow raised $1.02 million by January 2012 and was dissolved that November, with the $773,704.83 left over passed to a 'Ham Rove Memorial Foundation'.

Which Illinois school's 2006 honorary doctorate let Colbert bill himself 'Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A.' on air?

Knox College in Galesburg conferred the Doctorate of Fine Arts after his commencement speech, and the title fronted the health segment 'Cheating Death with Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A.'.

Who led Colbert's Late Show house band from the 2022 bandleader change to the May 2026 finale?

Louis Cato took over when the original bandleader left in August 2022, and in February 2026 his band took a new name ahead of a charity album released that April.

Which former Late Show writer became Colbert's off-screen announcer after he voiced the intros himself at first?

Jen Spyra left the writers' room to write a collection of comic short stories, yet her voice went on opening the show.

The day after The Late Show's 2026 finale, Colbert guest-hosted 'Only In Monroe', a public-access show in which state?

Michigan's Monroe was a return trip: Colbert had hosted the same public-access program in July 2015, before his CBS debut, interviewing Eminem.

Which congressman lambasted 'Better Know a District' after sitting for one of Colbert's first interviews in 2005?

Barney Frank grimaced through jokes about his weight and later called the interview 'very strange'; Colbert admitted he had wrongly assumed the congressman was only 'playing upset'.

In 2026 Colbert was announced as a co-writer of which Lord of the Rings film?

Shadow of the Past, a working title, draws on early chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring that the 2001 film left out; Colbert is writing it with Philippa Boyens and his son Peter McGee.

Which impersonator's act with the sitting president came just before Colbert's 2006 Correspondents' Dinner routine?

Steve Bridges stood beside the real George W. Bush voicing the president's 'inner thoughts', and Colbert then gave his 16-minute speech standing a few feet from the same president.

Peter Jackson's scroll inviting Stephen Colbert to appear in The Hobbit reached him while he was officiating at what?

A wedding was in full swing when a friend of the couple handed him a tube from the director. The scroll inside told him to bring his family and be in the movie, and they flew out a month later.

Which magazine put Stephen Colbert on its 2014 cover in full costume and makeup as three different Hobbit characters?

Entertainment Weekly dressed him as Bilbo, Gandalf and an Elf to bid farewell to Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy. The makeup was gruelling, and he was giddy throughout the shoot.

At which fan convention did Colbert moderate 2014's Battle of the Five Armies panel, dressed as his Hobbit character?

San Diego Comic-Con saw him open the session in his spy costume with a speech about growing up on the books. One of his boys joined him on stage, dressed the same way.

Colbert was the surprise moderator of a 2022 fan panel for which fantasy series, whose makers promised him a role?

The Rings of Power cast filled the stage, and Colbert spent his opening minutes explaining why so much story remains thousands of years before Frodo. A fan asked the showrunners to cast him; they said yes.

Which knighted English actor was the opening guest of Colbert's four-night 'Hobbit Week' on The Colbert Report in 2012?

Ian McKellen, Gandalf himself, led a run of four straight nights of guests from the trilogy, timed to the opening of its first instalment. Comedy Central billed it as a Tolkien-themed week.

Which Doctor Strange actor voiced the animated fire-drake that Colbert interviewed on The Colbert Report in 2014?

Benedict Cumberbatch reprised the voice he gave the Hobbit trilogy's villain, and the effects house Weta animated the beast for the chat. It aired in the programme's final weeks and mocked his own co-stars.

Which Lord of the Rings star admitted to Colbert on The Late Show that he had only just begun reading Tolkien's books?

Elijah Wood, Frodo himself, confessed about 25 years after the trilogy began and said telling Colbert was the most embarrassing part. He had finally started the novels and called them incredible.

For a 2014 magazine cover saluting The Hobbit, Stephen Colbert was made up as Bilbo, Gandalf and which Elf?

Legolas completed the trio. Orlando Bloom's archer never appears in Tolkien's novel The Hobbit; Peter Jackson's trilogy wrote him in, since his father rules the Elves of Mirkwood.

Colbert's 2012 'Hobbit Week' of Tolkien-themed guests celebrated the release of which Peter Jackson film?

An Unexpected Journey opened the trilogy that December, while Colbert's own cameo in a later instalment was still only a rumour. He announced the week with a formal greeting in Elvish.

Which New Zealand prime minister collected Colbert from Auckland airport in 2019 and drove him home for a barbecue?

Jacinda Ardern had invited him over while a guest on The Late Show. They sang Queen in her electric car, then she grilled sausages in her garden for a mock state dinner.

Colbert and Peter Jackson shot their 2019 spoof 'Darrylgorn' on which film set that still stands in New Zealand?

Hobbiton hosted a mock trailer in which Colbert plays Aragorn's slightly more handsome twin, in his old spy costume. Jackson appears too, credited simply as a gratuitous cameo.

Which Lord of the Rings star gave Stephen Colbert the sword Andúril as a gift on The Colbert Report?

Viggo Mortensen, the trilogy's Aragorn, handed over the Flame of the West in person. When Colbert auctioned studio keepsakes for charity in his farewell season, he sold a replica and vowed to be buried with the gift.

In his 2014 speech to Hobbit fans, what was Stephen Colbert's one complaint about Peter Jackson's Rings trilogy?

It was too short, he said, at a mere eleven and a half hours. He admitted he had feared the adaptations would spoil his private hoard of Middle-earth stories, then fell for them completely.

Which actor read Donald Trump's tweets in the voice of his cave-dwelling Rings character on The Late Show in 2017?

Andy Serkis was there to promote War for the Planet of the Apes when Colbert asked for the voice. He obliged with a croaked reading of the president's posts, to the host's visible delight.

Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, who stumped Colbert on The Late Show in 2021, played which two hobbits?

Merry and Pippin were their roles, and the pair launched a podcast about the shoot called The Friendship Onion. Their stumper asked where in Fangorn Forest the Ents hold their great meeting.

What film props did Dominic Monaghan hand Stephen Colbert as a prize after their 2021 Tolkien quiz on The Late Show?

Hobbit ears worn in the trilogy were the prize, and Colbert put them on at once to show the audience. He had missed one question but was declared the winner anyway.

Peter Jackson's 2021 video question for Colbert's Late Show quiz asked for the hobbit ancestor who invented which sport?

Golf, Jackson said, was invented by Bullroarer Took, and it was a trick question: both of his guests' characters descend from him. Colbert had the name; the actor beside him admitted he did not.

In 2016, which actor's Tolkien-loving mom finally stumped Colbert by asking which page the archway into Moria is on?

Ryan Gosling said his mum, Donna, only warmed to Colbert once she saw him beat James Franco. Her question had no fair answer, since the page changes with every edition.

Colbert was named in April 2014 to succeed which Late Show host, who had fronted the CBS franchise since 1993?

David Letterman announced his retirement a week before the network named Colbert, and licensed the Late Show name to the new programme through his company. Colbert thanked him on opening night.

Which Broadway venue, restored to its 1927 look for Colbert's arrival, was the home of The Late Show?

Ed Sullivan Theater crews uncovered a ceiling and stained-glass windows that sound and video gear had long covered up. The same stage had hosted the previous Late Show for 22 years.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert drew its biggest audience, 21.1 million, with a live episode right after which event?

Super Bowl 50 handed it a record for the whole Late Show franchise in February 2016. The football-themed hour had Barack Obama on tape, with Tina Fey and Will Ferrell among the guests; critics were split.

What medical emergency forced Stephen Colbert to pause The Late Show for a few weeks in late 2023?

A ruptured appendix needed emergency surgery, and production stopped while he recovered. Earlier that year the writers' strike had already taken the programme dark for months.

Which CNN anchor teared up in 2019 while asking Colbert about a saying on grief that Colbert had borrowed from Tolkien?

Anderson Cooper, who had lost Gloria Vanderbilt that summer, asked whether Colbert truly saw suffering as a gift. Colbert said yes: gratitude for existing has to cover all of it.

Which author's mention of Tom Bombadil on The Colbert Report in 2009 prompted Colbert to recite the character's song?

Neil Gaiman, there to defend his Newbery winner The Graveyard Book, brought up Bombadil in passing. He wrote afterwards that nothing was rehearsed and he had no idea it would set Colbert going.

Which actor, the young author in the 2019 biopic Tolkien, joined Colbert for a Q&A beamed live to cinemas nationwide?

Nicholas Hoult played the writer from schoolboy friendships through to war and marriage. Colbert hosted the biopic's first-ever screening and told the cast he had cried many times watching it.

In which magazine's 2012 interview did Stephen Colbert coyly refuse to deny that he had filmed a Hobbit cameo?

Playboy heard that Peter Jackson had flown him out to watch scenes being shot and to see a 25-minute cut. Asked whether he had been put in front of the camera too, he would only smile.

Which rock singer with Middle-earth in his lyrics heard Colbert recite Tolkien word for word on The Late Show in 2025?

Robert Plant, who wove The Lord of the Rings into Led Zeppelin songs, had asked whether Colbert knew the author's own recordings. Colbert replied with a passage by heart, and Plant shook his hand.

What accessory, along with a hood, helped disguise Stephen Colbert in his blink-and-miss-it cameo as a Lake-town spy?

An eyepatch covers one eye as he watches Bard walk by, and it slips when he turns his head. In the dark and without his glasses, fans needed freeze-frames to be sure it was him.

Which senator's use of The Lord of the Rings as a debt-ceiling metaphor did Colbert tear apart on his show in 2011?

John McCain and Tea Party hardliners had been trading Middle-earth comparisons during the standoff. Colbert picked them to pieces with chapter and verse, then brandished Aragorn's sword for good measure.

Colbert hosted the first screening of the 2019 biopic Tolkien at the film festival of which New Jersey town?

Montclair staged the showing three days before the biopic opened, with the conversation simulcast to cinemas around the country. The author's family had pointedly declined to endorse the picture.

Colbert told which actress, Edith in the 2019 biopic Tolkien, that he loved the scene where she dances under a tree?

Lily Collins played Edith Bratt, and Colbert said he could see in the scene the characters she inspired. Edith dancing in a Yorkshire glade in 1917 gave her husband his Elf-maiden Lúthien.

Stephen Colbert has dabbled in which language, the High-elven tongue that Tolkien modelled partly on Finnish?

Quenya began as a schoolboy project around 1910, long before any hobbit was written down. Colbert knows enough of it to tell guests when their Elvish greeting belongs to the wrong branch of Elves.

The 2026 synopsis for Colbert's Lord of the Rings film centres on Elanor, the daughter of which hobbit?

Sam Gamgee and two old friends retrace the opening steps of their adventure, fourteen years on from Frodo's passing, while Elanor digs into a long-buried secret about how close the war came to being lost.

Which Wu-Tang Clan rapper joined Killer Mike and the films' cast on Colbert's 2021 anniversary rap '#1 Trilly'?

Method Man traded verses with the trilogy's actors, Hugo Weaving delivering his in Elvish. The song brags that the three movies' 17 Oscars beat several rival franchises put together.

Which Pitch Perfect star turned up among the hobbits and rappers in Colbert's 2021 Lord of the Rings anniversary video?

Anna Kendrick was the lone guest from outside both the trilogy and hip-hop. Colbert released the song a week early because his programme would be dark on the anniversary itself.

Peter Jackson told Colbert in 2019 that his favourite Rings scene was written and directed by which collaborator?

Fran Walsh, Jackson's partner and co-writer, shot it in a day when nobody else was free. It is the night-time argument between the two halves of one ring-obsessed creature, now among the trilogy's best-known moments.

Which cinema chain's 2021 screenings featured Lord of the Rings cast reunions hosted by Stephen Colbert?

Alamo Drafthouse ran the three conversations to coax audiences into their local independent cinemas. The reunions later turned up as extras on a collectors' Blu-ray set of the trilogy.

In their 2013 rematch on The Colbert Report, James Franco tried to stump Colbert with details from which Tolkien book?

The Silmarillion, the dense chronicle of the Elder Days published only when its author had died, was Franco's chosen weapon. Colbert did not miss a beat.

James Franco was promoting which 2013 fantasy film when he demanded a Tolkien rematch on The Colbert Report?

Oz the Great and Powerful had Franco as the wizard, and he came armed with questions this time. Colbert answered without a pause, then reminded him who had won their earlier bout.

Which actor, The Hobbit's Elvenking Thranduil, had his Elvish greeting corrected by Colbert on The Late Show in 2019?

Lee Pace fumbled a formal Elvish hello, and Colbert gently explained that the phrase came from the wrong branch of Elves for his character anyway. One site called it the host's latest Tolkien-off.

James Franco lost his first Tolkien quiz to Colbert when he could not say why which Elf left Valinor for Middle-earth?

Galadriel's motive was Franco's undoing in 2011; Colbert ruled his reply wrong. In Tolkien's legends she leaves the Blessed Realm as a leader of the rebel Noldor, thousands of years before Frodo meets her.

Which Hobbit filmmaker, the set's resident Tolkien expert, lost a lore quiz to Colbert during his New Zealand visit?

Philippa Boyens, co-writer of all six Middle-earth screenplays, was put head to head with the visiting comedian and lost. Jackson said he had never met a bigger Tolkien geek in his life.

Scott Rogowsky, another loser of a Tolkien face-off with Colbert, was the host of which live quiz app?

HQ Trivia streamed live from New York with Rogowsky as its original main host. Against Colbert on Middle-earth lore he did no more damage than the film stars had.

Before Colbert took over The Late Show, lawmakers offered tax breaks to lure the programme from New York to which city?

Los Angeles was the hoped-for home, backed by California incentives. In July 2014 the network chose to stay put, and New York answered with tax credits and grants to renovate the building.

Colbert's uncensored live election-night broadcasts in 2016 and 2020 aired on which premium cable channel?

Showtime, then a sister channel to his network, let him swear freely. The 2016 edition soured as the result came in on the night; the 2020 one won an Emmy.

After The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ended in May 2026, which Byron Allen comedy series took over its time slot?

Comics Unleashed arrived because the network sold the hour to Allen's company outright instead of making a successor. Ratings in the slot fell by about two thirds on a year earlier.

Which CBS chief executive announced in July 2014 that Colbert's Late Show would stay in New York City?

Les Moonves confirmed the choice three months after signing Colbert to a five-year deal. The state made the network eligible for $11 million in tax credits in return.

Which Late Show showrunner, hired from morning television in 2016, left Colbert's team in 2022 to run CNN?

Chris Licht had produced Morning Joe and CBS This Morning, and his opening week swapped the cold-open monologue for sketches. Under him the programme leaned into politics and climbed to the top of the ratings.

Which actor, Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's trilogy, was the second-night guest of Colbert's 'Hobbit Week' in 2012?

Martin Freeman took the Tuesday chair. All four of the week's guests came straight from the trilogy, whose opening instalment reached cinemas days later.

Which New Zealand pop star joined Colbert at a backyard barbecue in Auckland during his 2019 Late Show visit?

Lorde turned up for sausages on white bread, billed as a state dinner, and fell for the snakes-in-a-can prank that her host had seen coming.